


Beating for Two

by PeterStark



Series: Marked by Fate [7]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Caitlin is also a good friend, Captain Cold has a heart, Cisco is a good friend, Episode: s03e09 The Climb, Idiots in Love, M/M, Oliver dies, Past Child Abuse, Protective Barry Allen, Protective Oliver, Sharing Pain, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, for a moment - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26341438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeterStark/pseuds/PeterStark
Summary: Beep."Hi, Barry. I um...just wanted to talk to you. Um... Something big is about to happen. I uh, wanted to talk to you before. Something bad might happen to me, I know that could always be the case, how we live, but I just... I don't know what I wanted to say. I hope I can see you soon and...if I can't I'm sorry. Just...yeah. Bye, Barry. I...I love you. Sorry couldn't vocalize it earlier. I'll say in next time, promise." Oliver wiped his eye. Barry would be...sad if something happened. But Thea...Thea was his sister. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for his sister.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon & Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen/Oliver Queen, John Diggle & Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Mick Rory & Leonard Snart
Series: Marked by Fate [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564228
Comments: 11
Kudos: 176





	Beating for Two

**Author's Note:**

> So...this is a thing.  
> Woops. After the next one I think I'm just going to start making stuff up. Why? Because I wanna.   
> I own nothing.

Oliver looked down at his phone. There was only one person left to get ahold of. Only one person left he needed to speak to. Only one voice he wanted to hear if this was all going to end badly. He hit the dial button and waited. Ring. Ring. "Come on." Ring. "Please." Ring.

"Hey, you've reached Barry. Sorry I can't take your call at the moment, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you in a flash."

Oliver choked out a laugh that brought tears to his eyes. Barry was an idiot. But an endearing one.

Beep.

"Hi, Barry. I um...just wanted to talk to you. Um... Something big is about to happen. I uh, wanted to talk to you before. Something bad might happen to me, I know that could always be the case, how we live, but I just... I don't know what I wanted to say. I hope I can see you soon and...if I can't I'm sorry. Just...yeah. Bye, Barry. I...I love you. Sorry couldn't vocalize it earlier. I'll say in next time, promise." Oliver wiped his eye. Barry would be...sad if something happened. But Thea...Thea was his sister. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for his sister.

-

"Come on, Flash. Can't take the heat?" Mick demanded.

"Can't hide forever, Scarlett." Cold drawled in his usual bored tone. "That last one got you, didn't it, Flash?"

Barry tried to keep his breathing quiet. But the gun hurt. His whole right arm had been hit and it was so cold it burned.

"Your silence speaks volumes. It was a good shot if I do say so myself." Cold chuckled. "Come out, Flash. Let's settle this so we can move on with our days."

Barry shot across the room, dodging three blasts as he did. "You know, you could do better, just saying. How about you go to prison and I go home? That sound like a plan?"

"No can do, Flash. You're not catching us today." Cold grinned.

Barry took a deep breath. He could do this. Mick was out of range. If he could take out Cold first while he was isolated then Mick would be easy. Oliver would be proud of him for thinking it through. He pushed himself up and sprinted for Cold. The man was moving in slow motion, lifting his gun. Barry would get to him first. Barry grinned.

Then white hot agony shot through his throat. Barry screamed and fell. It hurt. Worse than anything he'd ever felt before. 

"BARRY? Your vitals are all over the place. BARRY!" Caitlin's voice screamed in his ear. 

His throat. Barry clawed at his throat almost unable to breathe as everything inside of him turned to pain. Then...then he realized. The pain was coming from the Mark. This wasn't his pain. This was Oliver's. Oliver was feeling this. It was too much. Too too much. Surely no one could survive that much pain.

But that was it, wasn't it? Oliver wasn't surviving. Barry could feel it. Barry could tell. This pain was Oliver dying.

Oliver was dying.

Barry screamed.

-

Cold saw the hero hit the ground and start screaming. The man in red was clawing at his throat, gasping for air, thrashing in pain. Cold lowered his gun. He'd seen this pain before. His father had been a real piece of shit, always beating on him, his mother, and sister. But Leonard had adored his mother for what little time they'd had her.

The police had ruled her death a suicide. But though Leonard knew she'd pulled the trigger, he also knew it wasn't suicide.

One time they'd run away from dear old dad. They were taken in by a nice man, one who'd left a Mark on his mother. For a blissful month, things were good, happy. Then Dad found them. He'd killed Leonard's mother's soulmate right in front of her.

They say that losing a soulmate is the worst agony a human could endure, Leonard knew that was true.

Watching the speedster thrash on the ground, screaming brokenly and crying. Gasps of 'please,' 'no,' and 'Ollie' were all the speedster could manage. The man had managed to pull his suit open at the neck. And, sure enough, what little bits of the green Mark Leonard could see was flickering with the last heartbeats of the Flash's soulmate. Once his soulmate was dead, the Mark would turn dull gray, a shadow of what it once was. Cold was sure even the superhero wouldn't heal quickly from that.

Mick came around the corner. "What're you waiting for? Kill him."

Leonard pushed Mick's gun down. "No. Go get the goods. I'll deal with Flash."

Reluctantly, Mick left.

Cold walked forward and knelt down. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone, Scarlett. I'm sorry."

The green marks on the Flash's neck were flickering, a slowing beat. The Flash's soulmate would be dead soon.

"This is all I can do for you, Scarlett." Cold said to the crying man.

"Pl-please. Ol- he...he's hurt."

"Sorry, kid." Cold hit the masked hero as hard as he could.

The hero went limp, tears running from his eyes. But at least he wouldn't be awake when his soulmate died.

Cold leaned further in, there had to be coms on the hero's suit. "Hello, super-team. Your boy is unconscious. It's best for him really. His soulmate's just died. Come and collect him. Even I'm not a big enough dick to kick someone while they're down. I'll leave him here. Better hurry. Not sure how long he'll stay out." Cold stood up and frowned. No one deserved that pain...except maybe his father. And this superhero kid definitely didn't deserve this. "Sorry, Flash."

-

Oliver's body crashed to a halt on the mountainside, broken, bleeding, dead. But the Mark on his wrist didn't go gray. Instead, it started to pulse with light, quickly, but steadily. The light kept flashing, beating like a too-fast heartbeat.

The bleeding slowed, but didn't stop.

Electricity kick-started the still heart in his body and the heart gave a weak pulse, then began to beat, slow, tired.

Oliver's parted lips let out air that fogged in the cold.

He was alive. Unconscious, but alive.

-

"His heart shouldn't be going that fast." Caitlin said, worried. She paused when she looked up at his throat. "Wasn't his Mark gray earlier?" She looked at Cisco.

"Yeah. What the hell is that?"

Lightning, the same yellow that flew off of Barry when he ran was sparking around the Mark. Then, green faded into the grey Mark. The green pulsed, slow, in time with the shocks of lightning.

"Is he...sharing his healing ability?" Cisco asked with wide eyes.

"Looks like it...he just jump-started his soulmate's heart. Woah." Caitlin whispered. Did that mean all Metahumans could share abilities across their bond? Could they even do it consciously or was it unconscious? Was it just a speed force thing or...? Caitlin shook her head and brushed back Barry's hair. It didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was that Barry wouldn't have to wake up to a dead soulmate. That was all that mattered, the science could come later, much later.

-

"Ol..." Barry called out. "No. Ol..."

"Barry? Can you hear me?" Caitlin asked.

Someone needed to get to Oliver. He needed help he was in trouble. No. That wasn't right. Tears stung in Barry's eyes, even though he couldn't open them. Oliver was dead. "Ollie." He sobbed the name.

"What the fuck?" Cisco whispered. "Cool. I get to name the ship."

"Not the time, Cisco. Barry can you hear me?"

"Oli-Bear. No! Flarrow!"

"Cisco." Caitlin's voice snapped.

"It's how I deal with stress, sorry."

Gentle hands touched Barry's face. "Hey, breathe. I know it hurts. But listen to me, Barry. Your soulmate is still alive. They're very hurt by the looks of your Mark, but they're okay. Breathe. You're likely feeling a lot of their pain right now, but I need you to breathe."

Alive? Barry wondered. Caitlin wouldn't lie about that right? But God, the pain he'd felt. Oliver had to be dead. Except...his Mark was still hurting. His Dad said that his grey Mark didn't hurt, per se, more like it ached, a quiet, small pain. But this hurt and ebbed and flowed like Oliver was still feeling pain in different places. Maybe he was alive. Breathe, right? How hard could that be? He was only in agony, breathing was no problem.

"In and out, Barry. Stay calm, okay. I don't like where your heartrate is. It needs to slow down a bit, okay? Breathe, Barry."

It took a few moments, but Barry got his breath back.

"Good, can you open your eyes?" Caitlin asked.

Barry did, water leaked out of them. Caitlin and Cisco were hovering over him. They looked concerned, even Cisco had red around his eyes. Barry let his head twist and looked at the glass reflection of himself in the cabinet. The Mark on his neck was still green, growing dimmer then closer to its normal color in a slow pulse. He'd never seen his Mark do that before. "What's happening?"

"We think you somehow used your healing abilities to revive your soulmate. You're body's been under a lot of stress, almost like your heart's been beating for two."

"Wait...revived him?"

"Sort of like an electric shock, man." Cisco nodded. "Your Mark was gray when we got to you. But we literally watched your lightning sort of...kickstart it. The green color's been getting stronger ever since."

"How long have I been out?"

"Four hours." Caitlin said.

"Phone?" Barry asked.

"Here, man." Cisco jumped on it, handing Barry the phone as quick as possible.

Barry had a missed message. He opened it. "Hi, Barry. I um...just wanted to talk to you. Um... Something big is about to happen. I uh, wanted to talk to you before. Something bad might happen to me, I know that could always be the case, how we live, but I just... I don't know what I wanted to say. I hope I can see you soon and...if I can't I'm sorry. Just...yeah. Bye, Barry. I...I love you. Sorry couldn't vocalize it earlier. I'll say in next time, promise."

Tears leaked down Barry's face. He dialed back, but it didn't go through. He didn't really expect it to, considering that Oliver had DIED apparently. His head fell back.

"Really though...Oliver?" Cisco asked quietly. 

"Can we keep that between us three? Not sure my dad or Dr. Wells would approve. They both seem to dislike him. Plus I'm pretty sure Iris would hit me." Barry tried to laugh, even as he cried, but the laugh came out as a sob. It was too close, it hurt too much.

"You've got it, Barry." Caitlin promised with a nod. "It seems you're helping him heal so just...relax. That's the best thing you can do right now. Promise."

"How do you feel about Flarrow?" Cisco asked in an attempt to make Barry smile.

Barry did, though it didn't touch his eyes. "Best superhero team up ever." Barry answered. He grabbed his phone and sent a text to Felicity.

Me:

If any of you know where Oliver went, send help. He's still alive, but he's hurt very bad...and I think he's cold.

Badass Bitch with WIFI:

Holy fuck. Dig's going to try to find him. Sit tight, Barry. We'll bring him home.

Me:

Thank you.

Barry looked at Caitlin and Cisco. "The best I can do is rest?"

"By the looks of it." Caitlin nodded. "This isn't something I have data on, but the more you slept, the stronger that...pulse got. I say it's a correlation at the very least."

Barry nodded and wiped his eyes. "If anyone comes in...can you put my scarf on first?"

"Yes, Barry, always." Cisco smiled gently. "I've got your back against all the disapproving peoples."

"It's just...this is ours for right now."

"We get it, Barry." Caitlin agreed. "Rest, okay? You've been through a lot."

Barry closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Take care.


End file.
